Coming to Terms
by ExtraIceCream
Summary: Lily hates James. James loves Lily. Their friends hate that James loves Lily who hates James and are sick of hearing about how much James loves Lily who hates James. But does she really?


**A.N:** I haven't written anything in a while so don't kill me if it sucks. I don't know what's going to happen in this one or if it's going to be a story or a one-shot, though I probably will by the end.

**Disclaimer:** Anything you recognize, I don't own. I don't even own the stuff you don't recognize. You could use it if you really wanted to.

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James **

_Everything was dark. Pitch black. It was cold too. Not to the point of freezing but it was still pretty cold. I looked around wildly, not wanting to be stuck here in the dark alone, but no one was to be found._

"_Hello?" I called. My voice echoed around me but no one answered._

"_Hello? Is anyone here?" Again, no one answered. _

_A little nervously, I looked around. Nothing but darkness. I was sitting on the floor, waiting for something to happen, when the floor vanished and then I was falling._

I fell out of bed with a yell. Around me there were muffled noises of surprise as the other boys in the room woke in response to my yell. The bed to my right shook as the dark haired boy in it toppled onto the floor with a smack.

"Wuzzgoinon?" He yelled before looking around. The rest of the room looked at me in confusion as I sat on the floor and laughed at Sirius as he tried to understand what had happened and why he was now on the floor instead of his bed.

"Prongs this had better be good." Remus grumbled from the other side of Sirius.

"Yes, Prongs." Sirius said rubbing his head. "Instead of laughing at my misfortune, could you tell us why we are now awake at 5 am? I have a date with Andrea today and I need my beauty rest."

"Sirius, only in your head do you have a date with Andrea." Remus told him not unkindly. "She's likely going to slap you again today."

"I think she's warming up to me." Sirius said defensively.

"No she's not" I said bluntly.

"Is too."

"Is not"

"Too."

"Not"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Sirius," Remus cut in, "the day Andrea warms up to you is the day Lily goes out with Prongs."

"Hey!"

"Now, as amusing as you two idiots are, I'd like to know the source of Prongs' early morning yells." Remus interjected smoothly.

"I'm not an idiot Moony! Now Padfoot here … he's a different story." I replied just as smoothly.

"Ya Remus! He's not … hey wait a minute!" Sirius sat defeated as we all laughed at his stupidity.

"Seriously though Prongs, what has you up at such an early hour?" Remus asked when everyone had quieted down.

"I had a weird dream." I explained. " It was dark and I was all by my lonesome sitting around waiting for something to happenand then the floor fell out from underneath me, startling me to wakefulness." Everyone stared at me slack-jawed, contemplating my hasty explanation.

"Well," Remus said finally," While we're up, let's get ready for our last first day back at school." Everyone groaned and threw pillows at him, much to his dismay.

**After Breakfast**

"So Moony old buddy, what's first today?" I asked with my eyes firmly glued to the back of Lily's head. Though my friends were under the impression that I just asked her out to annoy her, the truth was that I was absolutely barking mad for Lily Evans.

"Well Prongs I do believe we have Herbology with the Hufflepuffs first followed by a free period and lunch." Remus replied, noticing the direction of my look.

"Let's go then. Gentlemen, follow me." The four of us followed Lily and her friend Aly out to the Great Hall.

"Hey Evans!" I yelled, walking up behind them. "Want to go out with me?"

Lily looked at me for a moment before replying. "Potter, I wouldn't go out with you if you were the last available man on Earth."

"So is that a yes?" I asked hopefully. She turned on her heel and walk away in the direction of the grounds. I looked at Sirius hopefully. "I think she's warming up to me."

"Let's put it this way Prongs," Sirius said, "at this rate, she'll be yours in about a thousand years."

"Well you know what-"

"James!" Remus said, cutting in right before I blew up at Sirius. "Let me give you a little friendly advice about members of the opposite sex. When a girl gets asked out and pranked everyday of her life for seven years, she tends to get a little annoyed at the person who does the pranking."

"I hadn't noticed." I told him dryly. "What's your point?"

"My point is, give her a break. Try to go a whole week without asking her out, maybe even two. Trust me, she'll miss it when you stop showing interest. She'll get curious and wonder why you don't like her anymore. Lily does like you James."

"She does?" I asked confused. Any emotions that Lily had ever shown me were of hate and anger.

"Yes James. But don't let it go to your head."

"Alright guys. Let's get down to the greenhouses."

"Mr. Potter!" I spun around searching for whoever had called my name. Finally I spotted, to my horror, Professor McGonagall staring straight at me.

"Yes professor?" I said, wondering what she had caught me at this time.

"Please retrieve Mrs. Evans from the greenhouses and report to the Headmaster's office immediately."

"Yes professor." I said and ran off to find Lily.

**Lily**

I had hoped Potter was lying. But then I realized that for the first time in his life he looked serious. Damn him.

We walked toward Dumbledore's office single file. Me behind him. With a perfect view of his very nice backside.

_No Lily! Bad thoughts! Very bad thoughts!_

But whether I wanted to or not, I could not help but admire his strong shoulders, or the way he filled on his robes so nicely, and how good his-

_No Lily! You can't be thinking like this! Get those thoughts out of your head. It's James you're thinking about! James Potter, the boy you hate!_

_But why do you hate him? _

_He's annoying and … and … annoying! _

_Nothing wrong with that. _

_Stop this whole line of thought! Now! You can't be having these thoughts about James! You hate James!_

I sighed in disappointment at myself. I couldn't even get my own thoughts straight. James noticed my sigh and turned to look at me.

"Is something wrong Lily?" He asked with what looked like genuine concern on his face.

"Nothing you could help with James." I said without thinking. He smiled and turned around. I pondered the smile before I realized what I had done.

_You called him James!_

"James Potter." I whispered it, almost to myself. I guess I didn't say it quietly enough.

When we got to Dumbledore's office he wasn't there. We were standing and waiting for him to come in when James starting talking. He wasn't goofing off or being self-centered, just talking. He asked me questions about myself and I asked him stuff about his life. He seemed actually interested in what I was saying. I was almost disappointed when Dumbledore walked in.

"I'm sorry Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans. I had some urgent business I had to attend to." He explained quietly.

"It's quiet alright Professor Dumbledore." I said. "We were talking." Dumbledore looked at both of us with great surprise on his face.

"You were talking?" He asked. We both nodded. "Not yelling, fighting, or otherwise hurting each other? Talking in normal, calm voices?" We nodded again. James looked like he was about to laugh.

"Well," Dumbledore began, clearly aware of the same fact. "The reason I called you both here this morning was to inform you of your duties as Head Boy and Girl. I trust you both received your letters over the summer?" We nodded our heads in affirmative. "In addition to normal Prefect duties, you are also in charge of organizing any balls, parties, and other forms of noisy get-togethers you wish to stage. You will also patrol the halls twice a week. You may give out detentions and take away points as you see fit as long as you consult a teacher afterward to make sure you were in the right. If you abuse this power it will be taken away. Do you understand your new duties?" We both nodded. "Good. Now as you both may not know, the Head Boy and Girl have their own dormitories. You will share a common room and two bathrooms. You each have your own bedrooms and showers." I felt my mouth drop open. Dumbledore noticed.

"Is there a problem Ms. Evans?" He asked politely.

"Sir, I have to share a dormitory with him?" I asked pointing at James, who looked ready to laugh again.

"Yes Ms. Evans. And if I hear word of anything more that verbal fights you will both be stripped of your duties. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir." I said.

"Good. Now I have given you both the rest of the morning off of your classes to use to settle into your new rooms. You will find that the house elves have already brought your things to your rooms. Hannah will lead you there." As Dumbledore spoke, a small house elf appeared with a crack.

"Please follow me sir and miss." She said squeakily. We stood and said our farewells to Professor Dumbledore before following the house elf out of the room.

**James**

I had forgotten all about the rumored Head's Dorms. I had heard numerous times over the years that we got our own rooms but I didn't think it was true. Normally, I would use this to my advantage and ask Lily out every chance I got. Normally. This time I had Remus' words in my head. That whole deal with giving the constant pranking and asking out Lily a break might be worth a shot. I needed to let her breath for a while.

_This is gonna to be hard._

I looked over at Lily as we walked. Her wavy red hair fell gracefully over her shoulders and halfway down her back. Her emerald eyes sparkled with an inner fire that I had seen many times when she was yelling at me. Her skin was smooth and creamy. It looked so soft I could hardly resist touching it.

_This is gonna to be really hard._

I turned my eyes to the windows so she didn't catch me staring at her. The last thing we needed was for her to curse me or think I was some freaky stalker… though she probably already did. I didn't know how I would resist asking her out in the weeks to come but I'd sure as heck do my best.

_This is gonna be really, really hard._

**Lily**

_Why are we thinking about James again? _

_Why are you talking to yourself again? _

_Stop changing the subject._

_But it's so fun to mess with you._

_**But I want to think about James.** _

_No I don't! _

_Do I?_

_**I'm so confused.**_

_Join the club_

_Let's get back to the situation. We're having issues about James remember?_

_You're having issues. I have already admitted to you that there's nothing wrong with him._

_**She has a point you know.**_

_Why am I arguing with myself again?_

_It's fun isn't it?_

_**No.**_

Some of my thoughts must have shown on my face because James' voice broke through my mental argument.

"Lily, are you ok?" He said with that concern back on his face.

"Yes Potter. I'm fine."

"So you're back to Potter then?" he asked like he didn't really care. I saw through it.

"What would you like to be called?" I asked, surprising both of us. He looked at me, trying to see if I was joking or being mean.

"I like James much better. You calling me Potter reminds me of McGonagall." He shuddered at the thought.

"I'll call you James then." I said smiling my first genuine smile at him. He looked pleased.

"What shall I call you fair maiden?" He asked, pretending to be a gentleman.

"You shall call me Lily if you wish." I said, putting my nose in the air in an imitation of a snobby rich lady.

"Very well, Lady Lily." He said, almost laughing.

"Yes Sir James, all is very well." After that, we couldn't hold it anymore. We both burst out laughing.

"Sir? Miss?" A small, squeaky voice interrupted our laughter. We both looked down at Hannah.

"We has arrived." She said pointing to a painting where a man and a woman were laughing as they danced to unheard music. "The password is _amnesty_ Sir and Miss. Good day to you." And with that she bowed and disappeared with a loud crack.

The dancing couple, who were twirling around very fast now, finally noticed we were standing there.

"What's the password?" The woman asked in between screams of delight.

"_Amnesty._" I replied.

"You got it!" And the portrait swung open to reveal our home for the next few months.

It looked exactly like the Gryffindor common room except where the staircases that would lead up to the dorms would be, there were two doors. One had a portrait of James on it and the other, a portrait of me. We even had our own fireplace.

"Three guesses which room is mine and the first two don't count." James said.

"Well, we have until lunch to settle in. What do you want to do?" I asked James.

"I don't know." He replied. He looked over at me, his dark blue eyes catching my bright green ones. Suddenly I couldn't look away. His gaze was mesmerizing. I licked my lips. He took a step toward me. I stepped back a little.

"Maybe we should look around our rooms." I said.

"Later." He replied, taking another step. I stepped back again, unable to pull my self together. I had so many thoughts in my head at that moment. Part of me, a surprisingly large part, wanted this. Another part screamed not to let it happen.

"M-maybe we could start our homework." I tried again.

"We don't have any yet." He replied, taking yet another step toward me. I stepped back … and met a wall. I ran my hands over it, hopping to find a door or something to escape what was happening. My emotions were so confused as James closed in on me. He took a final step toward me. Our faces were inches apart. Our breath mingled for the barest instant before he covered my mouth with his.

At first I stood stock still, not believing that James Potter was kissing me, not believing that I actually liked it. Then I leaned into him and kissed him back. My arms went around his neck as his went around my body. Some strange emotion was fighting its way into my chest. James was the one to pull back first.

"See? That wasn't so bad now was it?" He asked. I was surprised to hear his voice crack a little bit. "You didn't turn into anything, the walls didn't fall in." I ran my fingers through his hair while keeping the other one around his neck.

"Why'd you stop?" I asked. He smiled and leaned in for another kiss.

**Four Years Later**

"Lily?" James said nervously. "There's something I want to ask you."

"What is it James?" Lily replied. He kneeled down in front ofher and reached behind his back. Taking her hand he pulled a diamond ring from his back pocket and held it upwhere she could see it.

"Will you marry me?"

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A.N: **Don't write fan fiction upside down. You will stick your finger up your nose by accident. 

Please review :D


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